Other titles: Work On What Has Been Spoiled, The Symbol of Destruction, Decay, Arresting of Decay, Work after Spoiling, Fixing, Rectifying, Corrupting, Branch, Degeneration, Misdeeds "Can refer to heredity and psychological traits.” -- D. F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Successful progress is indicated for those who properly repair what has been spoiled. It is advantageous to cross the great stream. One should consider carefully the events three days before the turning point and the tasks remaining for three days afterward.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Work On What Has Been Spoiled has supreme success. It furthers one to cross the great water. Before the starting point, three days. After the starting point, three days.
Blofeld:Decay augurs sublime success and the advantage of crossing the great river (or sea). [I.e. of going on a journey or of going forward with one's plans.] What has happened once will surely happen again (literally, "three days before the commencement; three days after the commencement"). [It would have been hard to make sense of these words, were it not that the Confucian Commentary on the Text clearly explains them; hence the liberty I have taken with the Text.]
Liu: Work after spoiling. Great success. It is of benefit to cross the great water. Before starting, three days. After starting, three days. [This hexagram implies that, although conditions are bad now, improvement can be expected.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Corrupting, Spring Growing. Harvesting: wading the Great River. Before seedburst three days, after seedburst three days. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of disorder, perversion and putrefaction. It emphasizes that letting things rot away so they become obsolete is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Branch: Prime auspiciousness; receipt. Beneficial to ford the great river; preceding jia by three days, following jia by three days.
Cleary (1): Correcting degeneration is greatly developmental. It is beneficial to cross great rivers. Three days before the start, three days after the start. [The way to correct degeneracy is not in empty tranquility without action; it is necessary to work in the midst of great danger and difficulty, to act in the dragon’s pool and the tiger’s lair. Only then can one restore one’s original being, cultivating it into something indestructible.]
Cleary (2): From degeneration comes great development, etc.
Wu: Misdeeds is great and pervasive. It will be advantageous to cross the big river. It would be advisable to begin an undertaking three days before Jia and examine the ongoing progress three days thereafter.
The Image
Legge: The image of wind below the mountain forms Repair. The superior man, in accordance with this, stimulates the virtue of the people.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The wind blows low on the mountain: the image of Decay. Thus the superior man stirs up the people and strengthens their spirit.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes wind blowing at the foot of a mountain. The Superior Man, by stimulating people's hearts, nourishes their virtue.
Liu: Wind blowing around the foot of the mountain symbolizes Work after Spoiling. The superior man encourages people to cultivate virtue.
Ritsema/Karcher: Below mountain possessing wind. Corrupting. A chun tzu uses rousing the commoners to nurture actualizing-tao. [Actualize-tao: ...ability to follow the course traced by the ongoing process of the cosmos... Linked with acquire, TE: acquiring that which makes a being become what it is meant to be.]
Cleary (1): There is wind in the mountains; degeneration. Thus superior people rouse the people and nurture virtue.
Cleary (2): … Leaders thus arouse the people to nurture virtue.
Wu: There is wind at the foot of the mountain; this is Misdeeds. Thus the jun zi arouses the people and nurtures his own virtue.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The dynamic trigram is above, and the magnetic trigram is below. Pliancy is below, and Stopping above: these suggest troubled conditions verging on ruin. But Repair brings order to all under heaven, and he who advances will encounter the business to be done. The end of confusion is the beginning of order; such is the procedure of heaven.
Legge: Repair means the performance of painful but necessary duties. It shows a situation in which things are going to ruin, as if through poison or venomous worms. In order to justify the auspice of progress and success, the duty of the figure is to rectify this and restore conditions to health. This will require a major effort, such as crossing the great stream, and the careful differentiation of the causes of the problem, as well as the measures taken to fix it. The attribute of the lower trigram is Pliancy, and the upper represents Stoppage or Arrest. Hence, the feeble pliancy of decadence is stopped cold by the immovable mountain. The three days before and after the turning point symbolize the careful attention and differentiation necessary for any rectification to succeed.
On the Image, Ch'eng-tzu says: "When the wind encounters the mountain, it is driven back, and the things about are all scattered in disorder; such is the emblem of the state denoted by Repair." The nourishing of virtue appears especially in line six -- all the other lines belong to the helping of the people.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment:Repair means to set your house in order. Analyze your choices before the renovation and evaluate their consequences afterward.
The Superior Man orders his thoughts and feelings, reforms old attitudes, and strengthens his will. (Psychologically, to "stimulate the virtue of the people" (Legge) is to rectify the components of a complex.)
To imagine any truly objective state of perception we must include all that exists: the entire cosmos. Each differentiation of this, from atom to galaxy, is one slice out of an infinite whole. As a portion of the entirety, we are always linked with our ancestors in an infinite web of relationships which includes our family history, our racial-cultural-historical heritage and Homo sapiens as a species. Though seldom aware of them, it is useful to remember these links. Emanating from an unfathomable complexity, their karmically-charged morphogenetic fields are constantly shaping our lives. It follows that, although we perceive ourselves as separate from our ancestors, the separation is a subjective experience which is true only in a temporally limited sense.
Every line of Repair, except two and six, shows a son dealing with the troubles caused by his father. This reminds us of the biblical curse:
For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. Exodus 20: 5
The father archetype has a wide range of meanings: this extends from the Primal Spirit ("God the Father"), to a prior cause or intent in the psyche which has engendered a present condition. Psychologically interpreted, it is this latter reading which usually applies. If a "father" symbolizes the cause, then a "son" is the effect. If the effect is imperfect, then to rectify it is also to rectify the original intent.
To a large extent our lives consist of well-intentioned but misguided choices which create less than perfect consequences. To modify our attitude or behavior so that it corrects errors in our original intent is to "deal with the troubles caused by the father."
For example: In a misconceived expression of affection, a parent allows his child unrestricted access to candy. As a consequence of this choice, the kid's teeth become rotten, and the only logical way to correct the original error is to now curtail his intake of sugar. The fact that this new choice will create stress in the relationship between parent and child is just a consequence of the original choice and has no bearing at all on what is correct in the situation.
In some situations this hexagram may be interpreted as a response to a karmic chain of cause and effect:
To harmonize with the Wisdom Teachings, the scripture should read that the karma of the "father" is visited upon the "child" unto the fourth incarnation, not generation. The mistakes you made in the last four incarnations may be visited upon you in the form of karma flowing out of the heart seed atom in the present incarnation. Thus what you "fathered," or created, in your last incarnation may be the source ("parent") of your karma today. You are a child of that parent today. You have inherited from that parent -- the you of the past, not your physical parents -- all of your characteristics, weaknesses and strengths. Earlyne Chaney -- The Mystery of Death and Dying
The interpretation of any oracle response can only be as profound as our minds are prepared to accept. As moderns we find it difficult to empathize with "ancestor worship," yet properly understood, it can provide useful insights into the Work. In the unconscious realm all time is immediate, not sequential, and the Objective Psyche consists of a non- temporal web of forces shading from personal to universal. This means that if we have a complex engendered in us by our father, for example, we can reasonably assume that he was passing on what he received from his own parents. In this way, the unresolved complexes of the ancestors shape our own personalities: they live in and through us right now, even if they had their birth in forefathers long forgotten. This is a kind of near-immortality: individuals may die, but beliefs, attitudes, complexes live as long as they have receptive vessels to inhabit. (This is probably the engine of karma.) To the extent that an ancestral chain of causality still motivates our choices, we are totally responsible for "setting right what has been spoiled by the father."
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Most people have some level of unfinished business with their parents: psychologists would have little to do if this weren't true. It can be a healing ritual to set up an altar to a deceased parent and meditate there on the stresses that still remain between you. To approach the situation without judgment, to realize (non-logically) that forces pre-existing you provoked the condition as much as your parent did, will elicit much insight. Be especially aware of the presence of the past and the illusion of linear time. (Is it possible somehow to be your own great-grandfather?) Ancestor “worship” of this sort can be profoundly therapeutic.
Line 1
Legge: The first line, magnetic, shows a son dealing with the troubles caused by his father. If he is an able son, the father will escape the blame of having erred. The position is perilous, but there will be good fortune in the end.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Setting right what has been spoiled by the father. If there is a son, no blame rests upon the departed father. Danger. In the end good fortune.
Blofeld: Children exist to rectify the mistakes wrought by their fathers; hence the departed are made free from blame -- trouble ending in good fortune!
Liu: If the mistakes of the father are corrected by the son, no blame. There is danger, but in the end, good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Managing the father's Corrupting. Possessing son-hood. Predecessors without fault. Adversity, completing significant.
Shaughnessy: The stem father's branch; there is a son crafty; there is no trouble; danger; in the end auspicious.
Cleary (1): Correcting the father’s degeneracy; if there is a son, the deceased father is without blame. Danger, but in the end it turns out well.
Cleary (2): Dealing with the degeneration of the father, if there is a child, the late father has no blame. It is dangerous but turns out well.
Wu: He attends to the affairs of his father. He is a capable son. His father will be free from blame. It is a difficult task, but it will be good in the end.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He has entered into the work of his father. Wilhelm/ Baynes: He receives in his thoughts the deceased father. Blofeld: This implies assuming responsibility for their mistakes. Ritsema/Karcher: Intention receiving the predecessors indeed. Cleary (2): Consciously taking up after the late father. Wu: He intends to continue his father’s business.
Legge: Line one is magnetic, with a magnetic correlate in line four -- what can be done here to remedy the state of decay? But the line is the first of the hexagram, and the decay is not yet great. By heeding the cautions of the text, he can succeed. He has entered into the work of his father, and brings it about that his father is looked on as blameless.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, wrongs have arisen which are not yet deeply rooted and can be remedied. But reforms are associated with dangers, which should be understood.
Wing: In order to avoid decay, it is necessary to change a traditional and rigid structure that is affecting your life. You may feel that this is too radical an undertaking. It is true that this kind of change is fraught with danger, but if you are cautious while making the reform you will meet with success and renewed growth.
Editor: This line doesn't lend itself to use of the usual gender symbolism. Wilhelm translates the Confucian commentary in terms of receiving the departed father in one's thoughts; Blofeld renders it as taking responsibility for the father's errors. Ritsema/Karcher render "adversity” as: “Danger, threatening, malevolent demon ... It indicates a spirit or ghost that seeks revenge by inflicting suffering upon the living. Pacifying or exorcizing such a spirit can have a healing effect.” This can refer to any unresolved stresses creating instability in the situation. Psychologically, the idea is that new insights modify old errors. If they are formulated carefully, further error is avoided and one has created a useful new foundation. Sometimes the line can refer to having misinterpreted a previous oracle.
Lord Naoshige said, "An ancestor's good or evil can be determined by the conduct of his descendants." A descendant should act in a way that will manifest the good in his ancestor and not the bad. This is filial piety. Yamamoto Tsunetomo --The Book of the Samurai
A. Rectify a past mistake.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, magnetic, shows a son viewing indulgently the troubles caused by his father. If he goes forward, he will find cause to regret it.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Tolerating what has been spoiled by the father. In continuing one sees humiliation.
Blofeld: Tolerating the mistakes of our fathers would occasion us regret in the course of time.
Liu: Continuing to tolerate the mistakes of the father brings humiliation.
Ritsema/Karcher: Enriching the father's Corrupting. Going: visualizing abashment.
Shaughnessy: The bathed father's branch; going to see is distressful.
Cleary (1): Forgiving the degeneration of the father; if one goes on, there will be shame.
Cleary (2): Indulging the degeneration of the father, if you go on you will experience shame.
Wu: He shows compassion in the affairs of his father. If he attends to them, he will make error.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: If he advances he will not succeed. Wilhelm/Baynes: He goes, but as yet finds nothing. Blofeld: In that case, we should fail to rectify them. Ritsema/Karcher: Going: not-yet acquiring indeed. Cleary (2): If you go on you will not attain anything. Wu: He will have nothing to gain by attending to them.
Legge: Line four is magnetic in a magnetic place, which intensifies passivity. Hence the caution about going forward.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Indulgence of decay leads to regret.
Wing: The situation has been less than harmonious for quite some time, yet this condition of discord has been tolerated. Under these circumstances things will continue to degenerate.
Editor: Line four doesn't lend itself to the usual gender symbolism. The image is one of passive and permissive tolerance of error. To allow things to continue under these conditions will ensure that they get worse. The line can sometimes refer to a state of complacent ignorance of the true situation. If your assumptions are incorrect in the first place, then your query is by definition inappropriate: re-think the question to discover the error.
Psychic inertia is also evident in our resistance to any form of change in conditioned patterns, no matter how promising or favorable it may be. Any psychoanalyst knows from dealing with "resistance" that every basic psychological change entails a deathlike experience for the ego. New possibilities produce so much anxiety that the most destructive past adaptations seem safer and inspire more confidence. E. C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. Passive indulgence in an old weakness leads to failure.
B. You think things are OK, but they're not: rectify a past error.
C. "A stitch in time saves nine."
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, dynamic, shows us one who does not serve either king or feudal lord, but in a lofty spirit prefers to attend to his own affairs.
Wilhelm/Baynes: He does not serve kings and princes, sets himself higher goals.
Blofeld: He does not serve the King or the nobles -- what he does is even loftier than that. [In other words, if we directly serve the will of heaven; by doing so we act as sages who may safely do whatever they feel is worth doing.]
Liu: By not serving kings and princes, one gains higher recognition.
Ritsema/Karcher: Not affairs, kingly feudatories. Honoring highness: one's affair.
Shaughnessy: Not serving king or lord, but highly elevating his virtue; inauspicious.
Cleary (1): Not serving kings and lords, one makes one’s concerns loftier.
Wu: He does not engage himself in the affairs of kings or princes. He keeps a lofty lifestyle of his own.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: But his aim may be a model to others. Wilhelm/Baynes: Such an attitude may be taken as a model. Blofeld: This indicates that our own will can be our law. [provided we are acting from the highest motives.] Ritsema/Karcher: Purpose permitted by-consequence indeed.
Cleary (2): One’s will can serve as a model. Wu: His aspiration will be admired.
Legge: Line six is dynamic, with no proper correlate below. Hence it suggests the idea of one outside the sphere of action who takes no part in public affairs, but cultivates himself instead.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man does not serve his lord, but lets the world go by and cultivates his own character in solitude. In so doing, however, he creates something valuable for the future of mankind.
Wing: It is possible for you to transcend the entire situation. You do not have to deal with the mundane details of specific social problems. Instead, you may concern yourself with universal goals and personal or spiritual development. Caution: Viewing the world with a cynical or condescending eye, however, will distort your growth, so watch your attitudes carefully.
Editor: One of the most important precepts of the Work is a clear recognition that you can only measure your position and progress against an inner standard. The expectations and apparent achievements of others count for absolutely nothing. You aren't running a race with the world, but striving to beat your own record. One who has taken responsibility for the Work must be prepared to go where its dictates demand, despite what is considered "normal" or "proper" according to contemporary standards. Ritsema/ Karcher's translation of the Confucian commentary ("Purpose permitted by-consequence indeed"), means that one's determination to go it alone is mandated by a deep inner principle. That such an idea occurs in the hexagram of Repair suggests bolstering one's resolve to accept this lonely burden. Blofeld's version of the Confucian commentary ("This indicates that our own will can be our law") is too easily perverted, even with his cautionary note.
Indeed the Gnostics knew something, and it was this: that human life does not fulfill its promise within the structure and establishments of society, for all of these are at best but shadowy projections of another and more fundamental reality. No one comes to his true selfhood by being what society wants him to be nor by doing what it wants him to do. Family, society, church, trade and profession, political and patriotic allegiances, as well as moral and ethical rules and commandments are, in reality, not in the least conducive to the true spiritual welfare of the human soul. On the contrary, they are more often than not the very shackles which keep us from our true spiritual destiny. S. A. Hoeller -- The Gnostic Jung
Autres titres : La Puissance du Grand, Le Symbole de la Grande Vigueur, Personnes de Grande Autorité, Grande Force, Grand Revigorant, Grande Maturité, Force Accumulée, La Force des Puissants, Pouvoir Juste, Force Excessive
Jugement
Legge :Grande Puissance nécessite une fermeté correcte.
Wilhelm/Baynes :La Puissance du Grand. La persévérance est bénéfique.
Blofeld : La Puissance du Grand. La persistance dans une voie juste apporte des récompenses. [Ce hexagramme avec un groupe solide de lignes fermes surmonté par un petit nombre de lignes cédantes signifie évidemment la force -- dans ce cas, le pouvoir de réussir malgré les difficultés. Une grande partie de ce qui suit concerne les chèvres -- un symbole probablement suggéré par la forme du hexagramme, à savoir un corps solide distingué par une paire de cornes -- les lignes cédantes au sommet.]
Liu : Grande Puissance. Il est bénéfique de continuer.
Ritsema/Karcher : Grand Revigorant, Récolte d'Épreuve. [Ce hexagramme décrit votre situation en termes de la puissance revigorante d'une idée créative centrale. Il souligne que l'animation de tout ce qui vous entoure par cette motivation directrice est la manière adéquate de la gérer. Pour être en accord avec le temps, on vous dit de revigorer par le grand !]
Shaughnessy : Grande Maturité : Bénéfique de déterminer.
Cleary(1) :Grande puissance est bénéfique lorsqu'elle est correcte.
Wu : Grande Force indique qu'il est avantageux d'être persévérant.
L'Image
Legge : L'image du tonnerre sur le ciel forme le hexagramme de Grande Puissance. L'homme supérieur, en accord avec cela, ne fait pas un pas qui ne soit pas conforme à la bienséance.
Wilhelm/Baynes : Tonnerre dans le ciel au-dessus : L'image de La Puissance du Grand. Ainsi l'homme supérieur ne marche pas sur des chemins qui ne sont pas conformes à l'ordre établi.
Blofeld : Ce hexagramme symbolise le tonnerre dans le ciel. L'Homme Supérieur ne fait jamais un pas impliquant l'impropriété. [Note : La combinaison des trigrammes signifiant tonnerre et ciel suggère quelque chose de la qualité impressionnante du véritable grand.]
Liu : Le tonnerre dans le ciel au-dessus symbolise Grande Puissance. La conduite de l'homme supérieur ne s'oppose pas aux règles.
Ritsema/Karcher : Tonnerre situé au-dessus du ciel. Grand Revigorant. Un chun tzu n'utilise aucun code, ne marche nulle part.
Cleary (1) : Le tonnerre est dans le ciel, avec grande puissance. Ainsi les personnes supérieures s'abstiennent de ce qui est impropre.
Cleary (2) : … Les personnes développées ne font pas ce qui est impropre.
Wu : Il y a du tonnerre au-dessus du ciel ; c'est Grande Force. Ainsi le jun zi ne pratique pas ce qui n'est pas correct.
COMMENTAIRE
Confucius/Legge : Dans Grande Puissance nous voyons ce qui est grand devenir fort. Le trigramme de la Force dirige le trigramme du Mouvement, et donc l'ensemble exprime la vigueur. Mais ce qui est grand nécessite une fermeté correcte. Les attributs du ciel et de la terre sont affichés lorsque la fermeté et la correction atteignent leur état idéal.
Legge : Parce que les lignes dynamiques prédominent dans Grande Puissance, la figure suggère un état dans lequel il y a une abondance de force et de vigueur. La force seule suffit-elle pour la conduite des affaires ? Bien sûr que non ! La force doit toujours être subordonnée à l'idée de droit, et exercée uniquement en harmonie avec elle.
Le trigramme inférieur symbolise la Force, le supérieur symbolise le Mouvement. Dans le commentaire confucéen, "ce qui est grand” désigne le groupe de quatre lignes dynamiques qui nous frappe en regardant la figure, et aussi les hommes supérieurs en positions de pouvoir, dont ceux-ci sont les représentants. Que les attributs du ciel et de la terre soient affichés signifie que le pouvoir des hommes devrait être un reflet de la grande puissance que nous voyons travailler impartialement dans la nature.
Ch'eng-tzu dit sur l'Image : "Le tonnerre roulant dans le ciel et faisant trembler toutes choses est le symbole de Grande Puissance." En rapportant son application à l'homme, il cite un beau dicton de l'antiquité : "L'homme fort est celui qui se surmonte lui-même."
NOTES ET PARAPHRASES
Jugement : Contrôlez-vous.
L'Homme Supérieur ne fait rien qui ne soit pas en accord avec les principes du Travail.
Wilhelm et Blofeld traduisent ce hexagramme par La Puissance du Grand., mais je préfère la version de Liu de Grande Puissance, car elle a une connotation plus neutre. La Puissance du Grand évoque la puissance des rois et des empereurs, et implique un pouvoir "supérieur" exercé à sa propre discrétion. Il est trop facile de mal interpréter ce hexagramme comme une injonction claire à prendre des mesures unilatérales. Cela est rarement le cas -- le hexagramme dépeint une charge d'énergie latente qui doit être correctement gérée.
La figure est généralement comparée à l'image d'un bélier ou d'une chèvre -- les quatre lignes dynamiques inférieures étant le corps, et les deux lignes magnétiques supérieures représentant les cornes. Puisque ce hexagramme est la figure précédente de Retraite renversée, on peut imaginer les deux ensemble comme une personne se retirant à travers un pâturage poursuivie par une bête en charge. Le bélier/chèvre est mentionné dans quatre des six lignes du hexagramme. C'est certainementGrande Puissance, mais sous une forme si brute qu'elle ne peut être véritablement appelée La Puissance du Grand.
Vraiment Grande Puissance, comme le Jugement nous le dit, est dérivée de notre volonté de restreindre nos émotions, instincts et appétits. Notez que les lignes deux et quatre sont les lignes les plus positivement puissantes du hexagramme et que toutes deux impliquent la retenue de la puissance comme la manière appropriée d'atteindre ses objectifs. Sans lignes changeantes, le hexagramme se réfère parfois à des provocations dans lesquelles on est "légitimement” tenté à une démonstration auto-justifiée de "puissance.” Rappelez-vous que les ego-trips des autres ne vous concernent pas : l'homme supérieur ne répond pas à eux autrement que par une réserve digne. Considérez cela comme un test et soyez joyeux si vous le réussissez !
Tout ce qui se trouve dans la littérature ultérieure semble indiquer que ces écoles méditatives exigeaient une forte discipline et une adhésion fidèle à un régime strict. Les écoles étaient extrêmement exigeantes, et n'étaient ouvertes qu'à ceux prêts à se dévouer totalement. Avant même d'être admis dans l'une de ces anciennes écoles méditatives, une personne devait être non seulement spirituellement avancée mais en contrôle complet de toutes ses émotions et sentiments. Au-delà de cela, les disciplines de la Torah et des commandements étaient centrales pour ces écoles, et ces disciplines nécessitaient un degré de maîtrise de soi auquel tout le monde ne pouvait aspirer. Aryeh Kaplan -- Méditation Juive